Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to visit a public house; thus n. pubbing; in US a bar.

1889		J.K. Jerome Three Men in a Boat (1998) 17: We decided that we would ... hotel it, and inn it, and pub. it ... when it was wet.
1889		Stage (London) 9 Feb. 17/6: John Bird [...] goes pubbing and plays darts with her secretary.
1898		Worker (Brisbane) 10 Sept. n.p.: Most new arrivals ‘pub it’ the first night and often spend the few bob they brought.
1908		Bexhill-on-Sea Obs. 31 Oct. 5/5: What you want to do is join the unemployed [...] or go pubbing [...] then you can [...] enjoy the esteem [...] of your fellow citizens.
1925		Western Dly Press 13 Apr. 8/3: The reason why England went ‘pubbing’ on Saturday night [...] was because the Church went to sleep that night.
1936		Lincs. Echo 6 Apr. 1/6: [headline] Car Drive that Ended in Ditch Sequel to [...] Mens’ ‘Pubbing’ [...] He blamed Franks for going ‘pubbing’ and said he was led astray.
1945		Yorks Eve. Post 6 Mar. 8/3: Turner told the jury that he and his friend had been ‘pubbing’.
1965		Wisconsin State Jrnl 17 Jan. 1-2: After the flick, the Badger couple might go ‘pubbing’ or bar-hopping.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 34: Sneed was usually pleasant to informants. [...] Mostly they existed in a grey, unfriendly world that was likely to stop suddenly and violently for them if the villain with whom they were clubbing and pubbing sussed them out.
1982		P. Barker Union Street 10: And as for leaving them on their own while I was pubbing it with a fella – no!
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 88/1: pubbing to drink in pub or series of pubs, aka pub crawl.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].